Objective To propose a neurological function classification (NFC) for lumbar degenerative disease (LDD) and to preliminarily explore its clinical significance. Methods Totally 163 patients with LDD admitted to Department of Orthopaedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Naval Medical University (Second Military Medical University) from Mar. 2019 to Dec. 2020 were enrolled and divided into the following 5 types according to the corresponding diagnostic criteria: radicular type (n＝50), spinal cord and cauda equina type (n＝42), mixed type (n＝38), cauda equina syndrome type (CEST, n＝7), and focal type (n＝26). All patients were treated with modified transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion, and the clinical effects and postoperative complications were statistically analyzed. Results The follow-up period was (19.92±4.95) months. According to the Nakai criteria, 68 cases (41.72%) were excellent, 82 cases (50.31%) were good, 8 cases (4.91%) were fair, and 5 cases (3.07%) were poor. The excellent and good rate was 92.02% (150/163). The proportion of patients with poor surgical effects in patients with CEST was significantly higher than those in patients with other types of LDD (all P＜0.05), while there was no significant difference among other types (all P＞0.05). Conclusion According to the medical history and imaging data, it is helpful to determine the NFC of LDD before operation, so as to select appropriate surgical methods and achieve ideal results.